Objectives: To investigate the pattern of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) usage for urolithiasis patients in Taiwan and to determine the most common Chinese herbal products used for urolithiasis.
Design: Retrospective review of urolithiasis patients treated with TCM treatment.
Settings/location: One million randomly selected samples in the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database between 1997 and 2008.
Patients: Eighty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-one newly diagnosed urolithiasis patients.
Outcome measures: The correlation between TCM treatment, demographic factors, or medical conditions.
Results: A total of 62.6% of urolithiasis patients use TCM treatment. A younger age, female gender, polypharmacy, multiple comorbidities, and stone in the lower urinary tract result in a greater tendency to use TCM, after adjusting for demographic factors. Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San Extract Powder and Ji-Sheng-Shen-Qi-Wan Extract Powder are the most frequently prescribed Chinese medicine formulae.
Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the use of and the prescription pattern for TCM in urolithiasis patients using a random, national population-based sample. More than 62% of urolithiasis patients use TCM, and patients with polypharmacy, multiple comorbidities, and stone in the ureter are more likely to use TCM. The most frequently prescribed Chinese medicine formulae were Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San Extract Powder and Ji-Sheng-Shen-Qi-Wan Extract Powder, which were reported to retard the progression of renal failure and alleviate flank pain or tenderness.